Ronald Numbers

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

American historian of science (1942–2023)

title: "Ronald Numbers" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1942-births", "2023-deaths", "21st-century-american-historians", "21st-century-american-male-writers", "american-historians-of-science", "former-seventh-day-adventists", "university-of-california,-berkeley-alumni", "american-agnostics", "university-of-wisconsin–madison-faculty", "critics-of-seventh-day-adventism", "american-critics-of-creationism", "presidents-of-the-american-society-of-church-history", "fellows-of-the-american-academy-of-arts-and-sciences", "american-male-non-fiction-writers", "southern-adventist-university-alumni", "florida-state-university-alumni", "american-historians-of-christianity"] description: "American historian of science (1942–2023)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Numbers" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American historian of science (1942–2023) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox scientist"]

FieldValue
nameRonald Numbers
imageRonald Numbers, HSS 2008.jpg
captionNumbers in 2008
birth_name
birth_date
death_date
fieldsHistory of science
workplacesUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
educationSouthern Missionary College (BA)
Florida State University (MA)
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
thesis_title
thesis_url
thesis_year
doctoral_advisor
awardsGeorge Sarton Medal
spouse
partner
::

| honorific_prefix = | name = Ronald Numbers | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Ronald Numbers, HSS 2008.jpg | alt = | caption = Numbers in 2008 | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | fields = History of science | workplaces = University of Wisconsin–Madison | patrons = | education = Southern Missionary College (BA) Florida State University (MA) University of California, Berkeley (PhD) | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = George Sarton Medal | spouse = | partner = | children = |

Ronald Leslie Numbers (June 3, 1942 – July 24, 2023) was an American historian of science. He was awarded the 2008 George Sarton Medal by the History of Science Society for "a lifetime of exceptional scholarly achievement by a distinguished scholar".

Biography

Ronald Leslie Numbers was the son of a fundamentalist Seventh-day Adventist preacher, and was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist religion and schools well into college. He became a leading scholar in the history of science and religion and an authority on the history of creationism and creation science.

Numbers was educated at Southern Missionary College, and obtained his master's degree at Florida State University. Numbers received his Ph.D. in history of science from University of California, Berkeley, in 1969. He was Hilldale and William Coleman Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. From 1989 to 1993 he was editor of Isis, an international journal of the history of science. With David Lindberg, he has co-edited two anthologies on the relationship between religion and science. Also with Lindberg, he had edited the eight-volume Cambridge History of Science.

Ronald Numbers died on July 24, 2023, at the age of 81.

Writings

''Prophetess of Health''

In 1976, while still a lecturer at Loma Linda University, he published the book Prophetess of Health. The book is about the relationship between Seventh-day Adventist Church co-founder and prophetess Ellen G. White and popular ideas about health that were fashionable in certain circles in America just prior to the time during which she wrote her books.

''The Creationists''

In 1992, he published The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism, a history of the origins of anti-evolutionism. It was revised and expanded in 2006, with the subtitle changed to From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design. The book has been described as "probably the most definitive history of anti-evolutionism". It has received generally favorable reviews from both the academic and the religious community. Former archbishop of York John Habgood described it, in an article in The Times, as a "massively well-documented history" that "must surely be the definitive study of the rise and growth of" creationism.

''Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion''

In 2009, he was editor for Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion, where the book focuses on popular misconceptions that are connected between science and religion.

Among other things the work seeks to debunk various claims, such as that the medieval Christian Church suppressed science, that medieval Islamic culture was inhospitable to science, that the Church issued a universal ban on human dissection in the Middle Ages, that Galileo Galilei was imprisoned and tortured for advocating Copernicanism, or that the idea of creationism is a uniquely American phenomenon.

Bibliography

  • The Warfare Between Science and Religion: The Idea That Wouldn't Die, (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018) (ed. with Jeff Hardin, Ronald A. Binzley).
  • Newton’s Apple and Other Myths about Science, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2015) (ed. with Kostas Kampourakis).
  • Science and Religion Around the World, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) (ed. with John Hedley Brooke).
  • "Wrestling with Nature: From Omens to Science", (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011) (ed.with Peter Harrison and Michael H. Shank).
  • Galileo Goes to Jail, and Other Myths About Science and Religion (ed.) (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009).
  • Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White, 3rd Ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2008).
  • Science and Christianity in Pulpit and Pew, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
  • The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006),
  • expanded version of The Creationists, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Reprinted by University of California Press, 1993.)
  • When Science and Christianity Meet, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). ed. with David C. Lindberg
  • Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion, and Gender, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), ed. with John Stenhouse.
  • Darwinism Comes to America. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998).
  • God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986) ed. with David C. Lindberg.

References

References

  1. Shank, Michael H.. (2025). "Eloge: Ronald L. Numbers (1942–2023)". Isis.
  2. History of Science Society. "2008 Award Winners".
  3. Regarding religious beliefs, he described himself as [[Agnosticism. Spectrum]]''. And [http://brainwaveweb.com/diavlogs/21107 Inside the Mind of a Creationist: Ron Numbers & Paul Nelson in discussion] {{webarchive. link. (2010-10-10)
  4. "Ronald L. Numbers (1942–2023) – AHA".
  5. "Ronald Leslie Numbers".
  6. Numbers, Ronald Leslie. (1969). "The nebular hypothesis in American thought". University of California, Berkeley.
  7. (July 25, 2023). "Ronald L. Numbers".
  8. Critiques and reviews include "[http://whiteestate.org/issues/Prophetess-of-Health.pdf A Critique of the Book Prophetess of Health]" by the official church [[Ellen G. White Estate]]; Glenn Vandervliet. ''[[Isis (journal). Isis]]'' 69:1 (March 1978), pp. 146–147. [https://www.jstor.org/pss/230669 JSTOR]. See also the reviews in ''[[Spectrum (magazine). Spectrum]]'' [http://www.spectrummagazine.org/spectrum/issue/vol_8_no_2_jan_1977 8:2 (January 1977)]
  9. Steve Paulson, [http://www.salon.com/books/int/2007/01/02/numbers/ "Seeing the light – of science"], Interview with Ronald Numbers, ''[[Salon.com]]'', Jan. 2, 2007.
  10. See references in "notable reviews".
  11. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080829185250/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article4383951.ece The creation of Creationism], [[John Habgood]], [[The Times]], July 23, 2008
  12. (8 November 2010). "Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion — Ronald L. Numbers". Harvard University Press.
  13. Dixon, Thomas. (2010). "Galileo goes to jail and other myths about science and religion. Edited by Ronald L. Numbers. pp. xiii+302. Cambridge, MA, London: Harvard University Press, 2009. ISBN 9780674033276". The Journal of Ecclesiastical History.
  14. Snobelen, Stephen D.. (2010). "Reviewed Work: Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion by Ronald L. Numbers". Isis.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1942-births2023-deaths21st-century-american-historians21st-century-american-male-writersamerican-historians-of-scienceformer-seventh-day-adventistsuniversity-of-california,-berkeley-alumniamerican-agnosticsuniversity-of-wisconsin–madison-facultycritics-of-seventh-day-adventismamerican-critics-of-creationismpresidents-of-the-american-society-of-church-historyfellows-of-the-american-academy-of-arts-and-sciencesamerican-male-non-fiction-writerssouthern-adventist-university-alumniflorida-state-university-alumniamerican-historians-of-christianity